Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia attending a
conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard
several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately
turned around and witnessed one of the greatest act's of patriotism I
have ever seen.

Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in
their camo's, as they began heading to their gate everyone (well
almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving
and cheering. When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being
applauded and cheered for it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the
only red blooded American who still loves this country and supports
our troops and their families.

Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for
these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line
everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or
reprisal. Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country
or of our service men and women a young girl, not more than 6 or 7
years old, ran up to one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and
said "hi," the little girl then she asked him if he would give
something to her daddy for her. The young soldier, he didn't look any
older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want
to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck
of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then
kissed him on the cheek.

The mother of the little girl, who said her
daughters name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband
was a Marine and had been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was
explaining how much her daughter, Courtney, missed her father, the
young soldier began to tear up. When this temporarily single mom was
done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together
for a brief second. Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a
military looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device
and talking back and forth on it.

After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier
walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, "I
spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you." He then
hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on
the cheek. He finished by saying "your daddy told me to tell you that
he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon."

The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably
and as the young soldier stood to his feet he saluted Courtney and
her mom. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire
event unfolded As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their
gate, people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding and
looked around, their were very few dry eyes, including my own. That
young soldier in one last act of selflessness, turned around and blew
a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek.

Author Unknown

We need to pray for and remember everyday all of our
soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their
sacrifices.
At the end of the day, it's good to be an American.

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